News Archive

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is now accepting applications for deer hunting opportunities at the Cosumnes River Ecological Reserve in Sacramento County for the 2025 A Zone general season and the D-5 Zone archery and general seasons.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham has lifted the commercial and recreational take restrictions for human consumption of Pacific sardine in the Southern California Bight. This action comes after receiving recommendations (commercial and recreational) from state health agencies that Pacific sardine no longer pose a human health risk caused by domoic acid.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham has assessed entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and announced a season closure in the commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Fishing Zones 1 and 2 (CA/OR border to the Sonoma/Mendocino County line, 38°46.125’ N latitude) to further reduce the risk of entanglement in crab fishing gear.

On Friday, May 16, 2025, the National Marine Fisheries Service published the annual West Coast salmon fishing regulations for federal waters, including those for California’s limited ocean recreational salmon season.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced today the release of a brand-new mapping tool designed to provide regular location information on GPS-collared gray wolves in California to help prevent wolf-livestock conflict.

State health agencies determined that Pacific sardine sampled off Southern California contained elevated levels of domoic acid and recommended a fishery restriction for Southern California for the commercial and recreational take of sardine for human consumption in the area.

In a significant shift of California’s salmon strategy, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has begun releasing juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon from CDFW-operated hatcheries into the main stem of the Sacramento River for the first time.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is pleased to present The Conservation and Management Plan for Bighorn Sheep in California.

Be it Burney, Bridgeport or Bishop, anglers headed to one of California’s famed trout fishing destinations for the traditional season opener Saturday, April 26 will encounter near-optimal conditions with many popular lakes, streams and creeks accessible and stocked with trout.

On April 15, 2025, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) acted to recommend limited fishing opportunities for California’s recreational ocean salmon fisheries through the end of 2025. This decision will allow for the first recreational salmon fishing in California since 2022. The PFMC also recommended a repeat year of closure for California’s commercial salmon fisheries, the third year in a row.